February 2023
Greetings to all from the desk of your pastor. Lent will be here soon. Ash Wednesday will be here on February 22, and we will celebrate this special service again with the First Presbyterian Church and Parks Chapel UMC. This year Pastor Greg Emery and the First Presbyterian Church will host the service at 6 pm. Our choir will participate and Pastor Karen Wagenhals, Pastor of Parks Chapel UMC will deliver the message. We are looking forward to a meaningful service to begin the Lenten season.
The “Church Soup” event is also approaching fast. Mark your calendars for Friday February 24th. You can eat in Davis Hall between 11:30 am to 1:30 pm or order ahead and take-home soup for your enjoyment at home.
Just a heads up on the “Disaffiliation Status”. Following our vote on January 8, 2023, to approve moving forward with disaffiliation, we are awaiting a vote by the Annual Conference that is set for May 22, 2023. We have established a “Transition Committee” that is actively working to make the move to an independent church as smooth as possible. One necessary step in the transition is the determination of the name that will go on the signs and on the letter head of the church. The committee has recommended that that name be “Somerville Methodist Church”. This name will need to be adopted by the entire church if we are to use it as our public name. The current Administrative Board is going to look at this name on February 21, 2023, and if passed a Church Meeting will be called for February 26, 2023 to vote on this. The reason that this needs to be done early is so that the signs can be worked on that will be in place following the vote by the conference. Please let anyone you know on the Administrative Board know your thoughts on using this name. Even though this comes from the “Transition Committee” it is only a recommendation until the entire church votes on it on February 26th.
Please continue to promote our church to the community. With the change in the public name, we must ensure the people that we continue to be a church “where love abides”. This love is for everyone in our community and around the world. Everyone! In that we are all sinners “saved by grace” we do not judge others by any standard other than are they in love with Jesus and their intention is to follow him to the best of their ability. That is all we can declare for ourselves, and all we ask of others. As we strive to communicate to our community that we love everyone, we also must remember John Wesley’s advice to “do no harm”! Yes, we love God with our entire being and love all of God’s children as we love ourselves.
Bro Don VanVoorhis
